What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Bashing the ball like the Chase of old

We're 12 games in and life feels a lot better on this late Sunday afternoon than it did as I arrived with my fiancee for Friday night's Phillies - Marlins game at Citizen's Bank Ballpark. Phillies life anyway. 

When we got off the Broad Street line and made the three block walk into a stadium that was a little more than half full, I told Abby the Phillies probably had a 20% chance to score more than two runs tonight. You see, the Phils were coming off a could not have gone worse home opening series sweep at the hands of the Brewers. To make matters worse, the Marlins were sending sophomore sensation, and current reigning NL Rookie of the Year, Jose Fernandez to the mound. Fernandez is as impressive a talent at the ripe age of 21 years old you're going to see. He throws 98 and in two career starts against the Phillies he'd given up 1 run.

That's what made what we witnessed Friday night rather impressive from a team who basically fell apart for three straight days mid-week. Improbably, the Phillies touched up Fernandez for two runs in the first inning with several hard hit balls. I couldn't believe my eyes. With a two run lead early, obviously the Phils played shoddy defense in the top of the second. Jimmy Rollins couldn't deliver a decent throw to AJ Burnett to complete an inning ending 3-6-1 double play. So of course the very next batter, Derek Dietrich, launched a two run home run to tie up the ball game. Standard.

No way they'd get more off of Fernandez. Well, after Jose struck out six in a row in the third and the fourth he didn't get an out in the 5th. Rollins led off with a triple in the gap and then Utley, Howard, and Byrd followed with hard hit singles chasing Fernandez. The Phils didn't look back and the bullpen came through like you wouldn't have thought possible. This included an impressive appearance from Jake Diekman who came into the ball game with the based loaded, one out, and proceeded to strike out the two batters he faced.

Not lost on Friday night's win was a possible injury to AJ Burnett. The man who has made at least 30 starts in six straight seasons will be re-evaluated Monday after he left with a strained groin. Stay tuned but not good news.

From there the Phillies used late game home runs to ensure victory against the Marlins two games in a row. Rollins, batting right-handed, sent a two out solo moon shot down the line in left to end Saturday night's ball game in the 10th inning. Just a few hours ago, Chase Utley continued his (I can't even come up with the adjective, so here are a few that come to mind) brilliant, phenomenal, unbelievable, white-hot play and smoked a two out blast into the seats in right off Marlins lefty David Dunn. Short, compact. That 8th inning tracer put the Phillies up 4-3 and Jonathan Papelbon slammed the door with a perfect 9th. The Phillies bullpen retired all nine batters they faced after Kyle Kendrick battled for six innings. Hard to believe, Harry.

If the question is what have you done for me lately? You feel good about the Phillies.

If the question is how bad are the Phillies capable of being? You get pretty damn scared when you think about the Brewers series.

The Phils left a turd in the punch bowl on Opening Day at the Bank and continued to leave it there until the Brewers left town Thursday. Ryan Braun torched the Phillies all series long, the cheater was awfully impressive. He went yard three times in the series opener, two were three run shots, and busted open Wednesday night's sloppily played ball game with a two run triple in the 8th. Ryan Howard's mobility and glove cost the Phillies dearly in this game. It's hard to believe those two things won't continue to be an issue. Cliff Lee was unable to avoid a soul-crusing home opening sweep on Thursday night. 

Let it be known that the Brewers rolled right over Pittsburgh and swept them as well this weekend. That is nine in a row for the 10-2 Milwaukee Brewers. There's no doubt the Phils got cut in a half by an early season buzz saw.

Let's just ask ourselves; what have you done for me lately?

Sure.

Chase Utley is the MVP of Major League Baseball through two weeks. I'd say this without even looking at the stats, but let's look at the stats for some confirmation.

For starter's he's got 20 hits in 40 at bats. If you can do that math, that's a .500 batting average in a little more than a small sample size. His on base percentage is .585 and he's slugging .875 because of his six doubles and 3 home runs. Those slash numbers are good enough for tops in the majors.

The Phils are 6-4 with him in the lineup and 0-2 when he's out. He missed the first two games of the Brewers series with the flu but didn't miss a beat as he went 7-12 with four extra base hits over the weekend. 

After twelve games it's time to start talking about it I think. It might be a bit premature to say the Phillies have finally started to adapt to a new approach at the plate, but they don't seem to be giving away at bats early in counts. At least not nearly as often as they have for three years straight. 

Don't believe me? Well, the Phils were leading the NL in walks going into today's game in which they walked - 6 times. That's 49 walks on the season (4.25 a game) and they were third  in on base percentage at .343 going into the game. They just have people on base and opportunities to score in seemingly every game. That was not the case under Charlie Manuel for the end of his tenure. It is a trend that will need to continue given the Phils lack of talent in the bullpen and suspect defense. Let's also hope it continues from a sheer watchability perspective because its a lot more fun to watch a team that feels like it always has a chance.

We are seeing this phenomenon the most with Ryan Howard. Howard is guaranteed to be polarizing for the rest of the time he is here and I’m fighting like hell to stay on the positive side. Some days are harder than others. Howard has had a bit of a slow start but indulge me with a comparison real quick. One of these players is Ryan Howard, and one isn’t, after two weeks of play.

Player A

AB: 43 R: 4 H:10 2B: 2 HR: 0 RBI: 4 BB: 11 SO: 10 AVG: 233 OBP: 382 SLG: 326 OPS: 707

Player B

AB: 45 R: 7 H: 10 2B: 2 HR: 2 RBI: 6 BB: 9 SO: 15 AVG: 222 OBP: 352 SLG: 400 OPS: 752

Player B is Ryan Howard. Player A is reigning MVP Andrew McCutchen. So let's give The Big Piece some room to breathe. He's getting on base and scoring runs. He's striking out and is a borderline atrocity at first but he's not going anywhere and there's no reason to not pull for the guy. He hit his second home run of the season today, a towering drive over the high fence in the deepest part of the ball park just left of center. We need more of this.

The Phils will face what should be a much tougher division opponent starting Monday. The Atlanta Braves are in town four a four game set. Let's hope it's more Marlins than Brewers.